If "heavy metal" was the Anglo-American contribution to low culture, then "rap" was the African-American donation. And if "metal" ...came from the garage where Junior had been sent with his guitar and extension cord, then rap came from the street where young blacks played the only instruments they could afford--the mouth organ and the foot drum. Rap is performed in street clothes; metal in elaborate costumes of leather and fringe. In metal, the volume carries the aggression; in rap it is the words. Both are rife with adolescent misogyny, homophobia, and threats of violence. They are rude, bawdy, boastful, with a kind of "in your face" aggression (called "attitude") characteristic of insecure masculinity. Both musical forms were unique, however, in that they produced platinum records with little radio exposure. They found their audience on MTV.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Since film is first visual, and then perhaps laden with intellectual content, the art form it most nearly seems to resemble is pai...nting. But since movies are moving pictures, perhaps sculpture is a better analogy or, since objects are perceived as moving in three dimensions, maybe architecture is better still.... If movies end as architectural objects in motion, they begin as construction projects. Making a movie is more like constructing a building on a vacant lot than like writing a book. The literary property is the lot. The movie is the building. The screenwriter is the architect, the director is the contractor, and the producer is theoretically the owner. The major studio (if one is involved) can represent the lending institution, the equity partner, and/or the leasing agent for the finished building. The artist, if we need to believe one is involved, is likely to be the lawyer.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »